The ‘breathtaking hypocrisy’ and ‘horrors’ of Trumpcare, spelled out in a New York Times editorial

The New York Times editorial board is not on board with Trumpcare, to say the least. In a Friday editorial, they savaged the bill itself and the way Republicans got it through the House, pointing to the “breathtaking hypocrisy” of Republicans having “falsely accused Democrats of rushing the Affordable Care Act through Congress” before themselves passing Trumpcare without hearings or a CBO analysis. “Pushed by President Trump to repeal the A.C.A., or Obamacare, so he could claim a legislative win, Mr. Ryan and his lieutenants browbeat and cajoled members of their caucus to pass the bill,” the editorial notes. “They seemed concerned only about appeasing the House Freedom Caucus, the far-right flank of their party.”

The editorial then turns to the substance of the bill, highlighting that it “takes a machete to Medicaid,” “slashes insurance subsidies,” “eliminates the individual mandate,” “guts protections for people with pre-existing conditions,” “makes insurance less comprehensive,” and “defunds Planned Parenthood.” But:

Despite this catalog of the bill’s horrors, many Republicans have embraced it so they can claim they fulfilled their promise to repeal Obamacare. They aren’t bragging that the bill would reduce tax revenue by $880 billion over 10 years, according to the C.B.O. A vast majority of those tax cuts would go to wealthy Americans.

That’s a pretty good summary of what’s going on here. The Times’ editorial board’s conclusion is also on point: American health care is now in the hands of the Senate, and Republican senators who balk at taking health care from tens of millions of people are now going to face massive pressure from Donald Trump and their party’s leaders.